Milk is touted to build strong bones, but a compilation of all the best studies found no association between milk consumption and hip fracture risk, so drinking milk as an adult might not help bones. But what about in adolescence? Harvard researchers decided to put it to the test.

Studies have shown that greater milk consumption during childhood and adolescence contributes to peak bone mass, and is therefore expected to help avoid osteoporosis and bone fractures in later life. But that’s not what they found. Milk consumption during teenage years was not associated with a lower risk of hip fracture, and, if anything, milk consumption was associated with a borderline increase in fracture risk in men.

It appears that the extra boost in total body bone mineral density you get from getting extra calcium is lost within a few years, even if you keep the calcium supplementation up. This suggests a partial explanation for the long-standing enigma that hip fracture rates are highest in populations with the greatest milk consumption. Maybe an explanation why they’re not lower, but why would they be higher?

This enigma irked a Swedish research team, puzzled because studies again and again had shown a tendency of a higher risk of fracture with a higher intake of milk. Well, there is a rare birth defect called galactosemia, where babies are born without the enzymes needed to detoxify the galactose found in milk, so they end up with elevated levels of galactose in their blood, which can cause bone loss even as kids. So maybe, the Swedish researchers figured, even in normal people who can detoxify the stuff, it might not be good for the bones to be drinking it every day. And galactose doesn’t just hurt the bones. That’s what scientists use to cause premature aging in lab animals They slip them a little galactose and you can shorten their lifespan, cause oxidative stress, inflammation, brain degeneration, just with the equivalent of one to two glasses of milk’s worth of galactose a day. We’re not rats, though—but given the high amount of galactose in milk, recommendations to increase milk intake for prevention of fractures could be a conceivable contradiction. So they decided to put it to the test, looking at milk intake and mortality, as well as fracture risk, to test their theory.

A hundred thousand men and women followed for up to 20 years; what did they find? Milk-drinking women had higher rates of death, more heart disease, and significantly more cancer for each glass of milk. Three glasses a day was associated with nearly twice the risk of death. And they had significantly more bone and hip fractures too.

Men in a separate study also had a higher rate of death with higher milk consumption, but at least they didn’t have higher fracture rates. So a dose-dependent higher rate of both mortality and fracture in women, and a higher rate of mortality in men with milk intake, but the opposite for other dairy products like soured milk and yogurt, which would go along with the galactose theory, since bacteria can ferment away some of the lactose. To prove it though, we need a randomized controlled trial to examine the effect of milk intake on mortality and fractures. As the accompanying editorial pointed out, we better figure this out soon, as milk consumption is on the rise around the world.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Katie Schloer.

Milk is touted to build strong bones, but a compilation of all the best studies found no association between milk consumption and hip fracture risk, so drinking milk as an adult might not help bones. But what about in adolescence? Harvard researchers decided to put it to the test.

Studies have shown that greater milk consumption during childhood and adolescence contributes to peak bone mass, and is therefore expected to help avoid osteoporosis and bone fractures in later life. But that’s not what they found. Milk consumption during teenage years was not associated with a lower risk of hip fracture, and, if anything, milk consumption was associated with a borderline increase in fracture risk in men.

It appears that the extra boost in total body bone mineral density you get from getting extra calcium is lost within a few years, even if you keep the calcium supplementation up. This suggests a partial explanation for the long-standing enigma that hip fracture rates are highest in populations with the greatest milk consumption. Maybe an explanation why they’re not lower, but why would they be higher?

This enigma irked a Swedish research team, puzzled because studies again and again had shown a tendency of a higher risk of fracture with a higher intake of milk. Well, there is a rare birth defect called galactosemia, where babies are born without the enzymes needed to detoxify the galactose found in milk, so they end up with elevated levels of galactose in their blood, which can cause bone loss even as kids. So maybe, the Swedish researchers figured, even in normal people who can detoxify the stuff, it might not be good for the bones to be drinking it every day. And galactose doesn’t just hurt the bones. That’s what scientists use to cause premature aging in lab animals They slip them a little galactose and you can shorten their lifespan, cause oxidative stress, inflammation, brain degeneration, just with the equivalent of one to two glasses of milk’s worth of galactose a day. We’re not rats, though—but given the high amount of galactose in milk, recommendations to increase milk intake for prevention of fractures could be a conceivable contradiction. So they decided to put it to the test, looking at milk intake and mortality, as well as fracture risk, to test their theory.

A hundred thousand men and women followed for up to 20 years; what did they find? Milk-drinking women had higher rates of death, more heart disease, and significantly more cancer for each glass of milk. Three glasses a day was associated with nearly twice the risk of death. And they had significantly more bone and hip fractures too.

Men in a separate study also had a higher rate of death with higher milk consumption, but at least they didn’t have higher fracture rates. So a dose-dependent higher rate of both mortality and fracture in women, and a higher rate of mortality in men with milk intake, but the opposite for other dairy products like soured milk and yogurt, which would go along with the galactose theory, since bacteria can ferment away some of the lactose. To prove it though, we need a randomized controlled trial to examine the effect of milk intake on mortality and fractures. As the accompanying editorial pointed out, we better figure this out soon, as milk consumption is on the rise around the world.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Katie Schloer.

77 responses to “Flashback Friday: Is Milk Good for Our Bones?”

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It never ceases to amaze me how we humans have been convinced to drink the mammary secretions of another totally different species! I really don’t like to use the overused word “brainwashing”, but I can’t think of a better word to describe how all this love of cow’s milk came about. My generation was served cow’s milk in the school lunch program starting in elementary school, and I suppose it has continued to this day. “Start ’em young when their minds are still mushy and mold-able!”

When we step back and look at this logically, cow’s milk promotes the growth of a new born calf into a full grown cow in just a few years. Why would we want to put this stuff into our human bodies that normally take around 15 to 20 years to fully mature?

There is a good summary article at the link below. Here’s a couple of paragraphs from the article:

“We seem to be the only species of mammals that drink milk after infancy, and definitely the only species that drinks another species’ milk. Cow’s milk is not designed for human consumption. Calves are about 100 pounds at birth and almost 8 to 10 times heavier by the time they are weaned. So why is it that humans feel the need to continue drinking milk after they are weaned from breast milk? Human milk is very different in composition from cow’s milk or goat’s milk or any other mammal’s milk.
Cow’s milk contains on average about three times the amount of protein than human milk does, which creates metabolic disturbances in humans that have detrimental bone health consequences, according to a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. How is this possible when a glass of milk is touted to have 300 mg of calcium? That’s supposed to be beneficial for our bones and growth, right? Shockingly, the answer is a resounding no, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. Over time, a flawed belief that humans are required to consume three glasses of milk daily to sustain bone health and strength created the milk myth. And now, the supposed “truths” about milk we were all taught to believe are being debunked by studies ranging from those published in reputable scientific journals, such as the Journal of Nutrition and The American Journal of Epidemiology.”

Milk consumption might be up around the world (t=03:25), but it appears to be taking a hit in our Midwest. I saw in the news recently that Wisconsin dairy farmers are closing up shop because of slowing demand and falling prices.

Wisconsin lost 500 dairy farms in 2017, and about 150 have quit milking cows so far this year, putting the total number of milk-cow herds at around
7,600 — down 20% from five years ago.

Small dairy farms have been disappearing from the rural landscape for decades, but the problem has been compounded by a sharp decline in farm
milk prices that’s now in its third year and has spread across the country.

Might have something to do with a new awareness about the hazards of drinking cows’ milk and a demand shift to alternatives like almond milk. Ten years ago I don’t think you could find almond milk or cashew milk in the groceries. Now they take up more space than dairy in the coolers.

I am grateful to NF.org and Dr.G for leading this vanguard for change. I’ve learned a lot of valuable things from this site in the last few years.

dr cobalt, I’m not sure if dairy consumption is down, though milk consumption might be — but small family farms are disappearing, and selling their cows to huge corporate dairy factories. We saw that here in CT: the family of our farmers’ market fruit vendor’s husband sold their cows to a bigger operation. It was a sad day for them. I keep hoping that they will go into produce farming, but that is tough work with low pay. (I think that they’re renting their fields.) We should pay more for our food; instead, we have huge farms using migrant labor to keep prices down. We eat off the blood and sweat of much poorer and vulnerable “others.”

So, if milk consumption is decreasing, but dairy product consumption is not, what’s happening? Cheese!! Cheese, cheese, cheese, and yogurt and ice cream. But especially cheese. Several years ago, when the US had a cheese glut, the USDA researchers got together with food processors to INCREASE the amount of cheese and dairy ingredients in the products they sell. Remember when 3 cheese pizzas came onto the market? Cheese crusts? The “cheesiest” dishes? Cheese curds are big in WI, as I recall, especially at farmers’ markets, though I never ate them. Read ingredient labels of processed food; you can find milk protein and milk products in a lot of them.

[Several years ago, when the US had a cheese glut, the USDA researchers got together with food processors to INCREASE the amount of cheese and dairy ingredients in the products they sell. Remember when 3 cheese pizzas came onto the market? Cheese crusts? The “cheesiest” dishes?]

Dr Cobalt, I have noticed that in our region the dairy cases have switched places. Cow’s milk is now relegated to the small ‘alternative milks section’ , and plant milks now occupy the main refrigerated cases… and it’s selling like crazy. Giving up animal milks was the single most life-changing move we made … of course it was! Like Hal says above, the whole idea is ludicrous to start with.

Cheese and Yogurt May Help to Prevent Hip Fractures — a review of the scientific literature found 18 articles following 363,557 participants for 3 to 23 years showing that yogurt and cheese ARE associated with decreased risk for hip fractures (BMC Public Health, February 02, 2018). People who ate a lot of yogurt or cheese had a 25 to 32 percent lower risk of hip fractures than those who ate little or no cheese or yogurt. This new research shows that eating cheese or yogurt is associated with reduced risk for hip fracture.

Bovine milk obviously contains bovine hormones (as well as whatever toxins were in their feed.) You don’t want your kids drinking THAT, do you? Bovine insulin, for example, is linked to diabetes because it causes an inflammatory cascade in the pancreas.

There are plenty of better vegetable sources of both calcium and protein.

Navy Corpsman, -as well, it is common practice for dairy farms to inject their cattle with rGBH – bovine growth hormone – because it increases the milk yield. The cows are literally growing more milk cells. So you get the cows own hormones as well as the added growth hormones. If you think it through, and understand that cancer is the uncontrolled growth of cells, it isn’t much of a stretch to make a possible link to the added growth hormones injected into cows to be consumed by the public.

I can also offer this: I am in my 65th year. I stopped drinking cows milk when I was about 12 years old. I did consume a little cheese but also stopped consuming that decades ago. I haven’t consumed cows milk products in decades. I’ve had a couple of bone density scans and my bones are perfectly healthy – no osteopenia in sight.
But what I DO do is I use my body. It is the push-pull of muscle against the bone that stimulates osteoblasts to make bone cells and keep the bones strong. Exercise and force upon the bones is what stimulates the bone to keep itself dense and strong. I participate in strength training number of times per week and use my body. That is what keeps women’s bones strong and healthy. It isn’t the milk.

‘When dairy fat was replaced with the same number of calories from vegetable fat or polyunsaturated fat, the risk of cardiovascular disease dropped by 10% and 24%, respectively. Furthermore, replacing the same number of calories from dairy fat with healthful carbohydrates from whole grains was associated with a 28% lower risk of cardiovascular disease.’https://nutritionfacts.org/video/flashback-friday-is-milk-good-for-our-bones/

So, using a bit of basic arithmetic, people eating whole grains instead of dairy (fat) have only 72% of the risk of cardiovascular disease that dairy (fat) consumers have – which means that the dairy eaters have a 39% increasd risk of cardiovascular disease compared to whole grain eaters.

Thought you might understand the egg diabetes link. Do you know of any science linking egg whites as bad, or is it just the yolks? I know dean Kenisha gives a green light to egg whites. Thanks for any thoughts.

I can’t see any good reason to eat egg whites. They contain less cholesterol and saturated fat than whole eggs, true, but they are still high in animal protein.

Animal protein consumption seems to be associated with a higher risk of death

‘Replacing animal protein of various origins with plant protein was associated with lower mortality. In particular, the HRs (95% CI) of all-cause mortality were 0.66 (0.59–0.75) when 3% of energy from plant protein was substituted for an equivalent amount of protein from processed red meat, 0.88 (0.84–0.92) from unprocessed red meat, and 0.81 (0.75–0.88) from eggs.’https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5048552/

Here’s what Dr Gregerhas written previously in response to a question about egg whites

‘Plant protein sources are generally preferable to animal sources because of the baggage animal foods tend to carry with them. Food is a package deal. As much as Burger King says you can have it your way, you can’t be like “I’d like the burger, hold the saturated fat and cholesterol.” Whereas what’s the “baggage” that accompanies plant protein? Many of the nutrients most Americans are lacking. A striking 97% of Americans don’t even reach the recommended minimum daily fiber intake. 98% of Americans suffer from potassium deficient diets. Most of our dietary deficiencies are due to inadequate intake of whole plant foods.

But egg whites and skim dairy products don’t have saturated fat (and the cholesterol in eggs is only in the yolks). It’s not just a matter of the opportunity cost, though (missing out on the fiber and phytonutrients you’re getting in your tofu scramble). Because of the amino acid profile typical of animal proteins, the consumption of animal foods tends to increase the level of a cancer-promoting growth hormone in the body known as IGF-1. That is thought to be why those who eat more animal (but not plant) protein appear to die sooner and have higher cancer and diabetes mortality. See my 2015 year-in-review video starting at minute 6:36 for a discussion of animal vs. plant protein and IGF-1.
The effect on kidney function is another issue. See what happens within just a few hours after eating the same amount of protein in the form of tunafish versus tofu in my video Which Type of Protein is Better for Our Kidneys?. It’s really pretty striking.
Now an egg white only scramble is certainly better than using whole eggs, because the saturated fat and cholesterol have been removed, but your tofu scramble would be expected to be even healthier (especially if you add turmeric!).’https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3w8eeh/im_michael_greger_md_founding_member_and_fellow/

I’d like to see the data on goat milk. I’ve been almost completely off cow products for decades, now, but I’ve always believed that goat milk is much more digestible and, overall, safer and better for you. If I go to: http://www.greenmedinfo.com/substance/goat-milk there seem to be nothing but positive papers … so am I missing something? Can I request an article, here, on goat milk and the common products (cheese, kefir, yoghurt)?

Go to the national dairy board website. You will find lots of “positive” papers on cows milk. The questions remain: why would someone drink milk after infancy and why would someone drink the milk of another species?

I agree totally that humans need no milk after mother’s milk, and especially from another species.. Also why do people consume cheese and other dairy products that are more concentrated? Interestingly, milk was condemned and praised leaving the reader to make a choice of whether it is good or bad for us.

When the biggest problem was getting enough food to survive, rather than deciding which foods to eat, dairy foods were undoubtedly a useful source of calories. We could say the same thing about cannibalism too I suppose.

Blair – Exactly! You don’t see cows drinking cows milk after infancy and neither do you see goats drinking goats (or cows!) milk after infancy either. In fact, if you look at all of the mammals in the animal kingdom (gorillas & chimpanzees [our closest relatives], grazing mammals [deer, elk, antelope, giraffes, elephants, horses, zebras, llamas and the like], water mammals [whales, dolphins], mice, cats, dogs, etc., not one of them suckles Mother’s milk after infancy although they ALL suckle Mother’s milk while infants. None of them suckle cows milk (except cows) ever. There is simply no biological need to drink the Mother’s-milk of the cow unless you are a baby cow – ever.

An interesting little story – The Denver zoo had 2 baby polar bears that the mother abandoned at birth. The zoo hand fed them cows milk trying to get them through infancy. As they grew, their back legs failed to develop (nervous system I believe but don’t quite remember now) and the little things would drag their hind quarters along behind them as if paralyzed. They changed the milk formula – I think they may have added fat concentration – and the babies changed course and developed normally afterwords. An excellent example that milk is not an interchangeable fluid. The milk of the cow is about 12% protein (although I’ve seen different figures on this) while the protein content of the human being milk is much, much, lower: “Mature human milk contains 3%–5% fat, 0.8%–0.9% protein, 6.9%–7.2% carbohydrate calculated as lactose, and 0.2% mineral constituents expressed as ash. ” Here is the source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/392766 The Mothers-milk of the whale is about 40% fat – which makes sense when you think about the fact that baby whales must grow really big really fast to survive in the ocean – they need a really concentrated source of calories which is what milk of any mammal is. And this is why milk makes us fat – it is a concentrated source of calories which, when, after we have grown all of our fingers, toes, and organs and parts and pieces, makes us fat. Milk may also have stimulatory factors in it that encourage growth (which is the biological job when one is a baby) but is not needed when one is finished developing. Cancer is uncontrolled growth of cells and it is my suggestion that the this growth is stimulated by the stimulatory factors in milk of any species. The governments suggestion that human beings drink cows (or any other species) milk 3 times per day is just asking for trouble. And don’t forget! eating cheese is simply consuming concentrated milk. It takes 2 gallons of cow or goat milk to make 1lb of cheese – and full-fat milk is used for cheese-making. When one consumes cheese one is consuming concentrated full fat mammary secretions of a biologically dissimilar species.
Here’s a funny story – a while back I saw where an enterprising group of women were attempting to make and sell ice cream made from female human beings – Mother’s milk. Their efforts failed (near as I can tell now) because people were grossed out by the idea of consuming human beings milk as ice cream. But our culture is not grossed out by consuming the Mother’s-milk of cows or goats. This displays for us the power of the dairy industry to completely warp the thinking of our entire culture via marketing that began decades ago. What’s tragic is that we are paying for this in obesity, illness, and death. The food industry is legally allowed to sell you something that kills you – just as long as it doesn’t kill you in the first 24-48 hours. If it kills you, slowly, over time, the killing is allowed – and sanctioned by our culture.
Thanks!

Ruth, One of the first researchers who connected the use of cow’s milk with disease in other species is Dr T Colin Campbell. If you haven’t heard of his work yet, he has a good website and several good Youtube presentations that explain his findings (see below). And it’s not the fat in the cow’s milk that he was interested in, but the protein, casein!

Yes, Philosurfer, I suspect other milks are not as detrimental as the standard Holstein we are used to. The small “red” cow milk, Jerseys, Guernseys and such, have a different primary (80%) protein molecule, A2 beta-casein, which may have a better compatibility for humans than the standard A1 found in larger breeds. But that also leads into the whole grass-fed/grain-fed, organic, unpasteurized can of worms. If we don’t need it, let it sit on the shelf.

>> There is nothing healthful in milk that can’t be found in abundance in plants.

There are a lot of spurious arguments going on here.
Let’s say that is true … it still doesn’t mean that everyone should eat nothing but plants.

I hear a lot of what seem to me to be faith-based comments from vegans essentially
ordering people not to eat animal products, but as time goes by there is less and less
reason to think vegan is the way to be healthy.

I have no problem with veganism and I try to eat as much plant foods as I can, but
this idea that to make a point that plants are good eat you have to twist the truth to
vilify all meat and dairy in all cases is pure extremism.

Basically 100% of the arguments for veganism is based on the association of
industrial farming and processed food with the American diet and American diet
results. Taking the most extreme eaters in the US and then extrapolating
their diseases back to eating meat is unscientific no matter how many clever
studies you cite.

They do not necessarily conclude what it is being said they conclude. Mostly
the people who have been on the list of people who live the longest … until they
die, usually around 110-115 or so are meat eaters. If meat was killing people
there would not be so many of them.

Being a vegan will not necessarily keep you alive LONGER, but it will keep you alive HEALTHIER. Is eating animal milk and corpse worth decades of poor health? Dementia?

Meat which is not digested in the stomach CANNOT be digested in the large intestine; it “putrefies” instead, creating nitrates and nitrites which are class one carcinogens. Fat concentrates animal hormones and toxins which are systemic inflammatory agents.

I would agree that both sides manipulate the data, but I have never seen anyone order anyone to not eat meat. Even radical vegans, which these doctors are not. The vegans, Whole Food Plant Based, Keto and some Paleo and Pegan doctors that I have seen all recommend to keep the animal products to 5% or less of the total calories.

You are mentioning people who are exceptional, but I would also say that most people who lived into their hundreds faced multiple periods which would have been seriously limited with meats. I say it because my great-grandmother would have been one, but she went through the Depression, where food was scarce and World War II where food was rationed and she did eat some meat, but when my grandmother told stories of what the family ate, they often ran out of meat and didn’t have electricity or refrigeration or vehicles for their early lives, so didn’t eat things like cow until later in life. Dinner would be baked bean sandwiches. Christmas gifts would be oranges. I say that because in 1955, my grandmother’s elderly neighbor still didn’t have electricity or plumbing or refrigeration and that did affect what they ate severely.

As far as risk factors though, even if you remove the SAD and just look at the effect of adding one serving of meat per week:

Dr. McDougall has talked about Dr. Burkitt. He is a little bit hard for me to understand, but he is another one who saw countries not have our diseases and you are right, they not only didn’t eat meat, but they also didn’t eat processed foods. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA1fkVLqhmE

Okinawa was another where they had serious longevity until they started increasing things like animal products and I will add processed food with it, but they were smokers who didn’t get cancer until they started eating animal products.

1955 was a flood around these parts where most of my relatives lost their housing, so I heard stories all of my life.

Meat was always closer to a condiment in their houses.

And THAT is what Whole Food Plant Based emphasizes across the board and Dr. Greger adds studies, which emphasize that even one serving of meat per week or in case of eggs, even one egg per week increases disease and mortality risk.

But they all accept the reality that people do eat some meat and dairy, in fact most of the people here do eat a modest amount and people are not ordering them to stop.

your comments surprise me. For example, you wrote: “I hear a lot of what seem to me to be faith-based comments from vegans essentially ordering people not to eat animal products, but as time goes by there is less and less reason to think vegan is the way to be healthy.”

Have you looked at any of the videos on this site? It’s all about evidence based nutrition: nutrition research papers published in peer reviewed journals are reviewed, and the information reported, summarized, and analyzed in easy to understand videos. There is no faith at all; it’s based on science: observations, studies, etc. Links to the articles covered are provided under each video, so you are free to look at them and reach your own conclusions.

And there is no ordering of anyone in any of these videos to not eat meat. The conclusion is that a plant based whole foods diet is one of the healthiest, if not the healthiest, diet, for well being and longevity.

Finally, note that a plant based WHOLE FOODS diet is not necessarily a vegan diet. As Dr. Greger has pointed out, beer and french fries can be considered vegan — as can jelly beans, lollipops, potato chips, soft drinks, etc — but that is neither a healthy diet nor a plant based whole foods diet.

I can only comment that you appear not to have read the evidence and that your reasoning may be a bit misleading.

Using your reasoning, for example, we would also have to conclude that since many of the longest lived people in the world smoked and drank – Jeanne Calment for example – tobacco and booze aren’t unhealthy either. If these things were actually killing people, there would not be so many centenarians who smoked and drank, right?

Also, it’s not just ‘vegans’ saying these things. You are kidding yourself if you think that. There are zillions of studies out there if you aren’t afraid to look – and they don’t just show that only eating very high amounts of meat is a problem

‘ In the dose-response analysis, the risk of stroke increased significantly by 10% and 13% for each 100 g per day increment in total and red meat consumption, respectively, and by 11% for each 50 g per day increment in processed meat consumption.’https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23169473

by the way, you wrote “I try to eat as much plant foods as I can’. This is udoubtedly a very healthy practice. As this Swedish study observed

‘Fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption is associated with a longer survival and lower mortality risk.’

However, if you eat large amounts of red meat, high FV consumption may not decrease your risk of adverse health events

I agree that drinking milk is unhealthy. I am curious though with regard to how these studies, and all studies are conducted. How is it possible to specifically and accurately track the eating habits of 100,000 people for 20 years?

Tracking eating habits of 100,000 people for 20 years would involve an epidemiology study rather than a more controlled clinical study, usually relying on self report rather than direct observance or provided food intake This is the way studies such as the Blue Zone research have been conducted with some additional efforts to verify. Obviously it would be impractical if not impossible to have rigid food control or randomized trials with that large a group over such a long period of time. Hope that helps.

Just came across this earlier today (although it dates back to last year)

‘Researchers followed 63,257 Chinese adults aged 45–74 for an average of 10.9 years and found that eating red meat was associated with increased risk for developing diabetes. The authors suggest that it may be the iron in meat that could cause diabetes (American Journal of Epidemiology, May 23, 2017). Another recent article showed that women who ate a lot of meat prior to pregnancy are the ones most likely to become diabetic during pregnancy (Eur J Nutr, Mar 11, 2017). Many other studies have associated eating meat with increased risk for diabetes (JAMA Intern Med, Jul 22, 2013;173(14):1328-35) and for gestational diabetes (Adv Nutr, July 1, 2013;4(4):403-11).’http://www.drmirkin.com/diabetes/why-meat-may-increase-risk-for-diabetes.html

Strong bones and teeth are attained through daily consumption of kale, collard greens, or arugula and vitamin D supplementation/summer sunbathing. I like to view green leafy vegetables in the same way people view milk, as a nutritional powerhouse.

If the problems associated with milk result from lactose consumption, it seems likely that naturally fermented vegetables could cause the same problems. Does anyone know if there are any studies on this?

Hi Bill Detlefsen, thanks for your comment and question. As Dr Greger explains Lactose is one factor associated with milk because after childhood we lose the lactase that is needed to breakdown the Lactose sugar.

In fermentation, for example in yogurt , bacteria feed on the natural sugars in foods. These microorganisms create compounds such as lactic acid which help preserve the foods. The fermented foods have “friendly” bacteria such as Lactobascillus , as well as helpful enzymes.

The bacteria “predigest” certain food components, making them easier for your gut to handle and for nutrients to be absorbed when you eat them. People who are lactose-intolerant usually tolerate yogurt or kefir, because the lactose sugar in these products has been partly broken down by the bacteria in them. Even vegetables can benefit from fermentation: Making cabbage into sauerkraut or kimchi increases glucosinolate compounds believed to fight cancer.

Spring03 is referring to certain compounds that are believed to fight cancer. That doesn’t exclude there being other compounds in kimchi that actually promote cancer including high sodium levels.

There are many sites and studies that promote kimchi consumption and claim that it has anti-cancer properties. The Kimchi Research Institute in Korea seems particularly active in this area but Koreans generally appear very pro-kimchi. However, this systematic review and meta analysis of studies of consuming picked foods and the risk of gastric cancer concluded:

“Lactose” is a sugar found in milk. “Lactobacillus” is one of the bacteria which ferment vegetables and milk; it is a highly effective pro-biotic. There is no direct relationship between fermented vegetables and lactose intolerance.

I would love to know if any studies have been done looking at correlations between head size and milk consumption. Or jaw size. Or can you talk about whether diet has any effect on whether infants are born with a tongue tie?

A high vegetable protein diet and high fruit and vegetable consumption may be a safer way of increasing the chances of higher birth weight children given the halth risks associated with high diets high in animal protein eg

However, there is also the question of whether promoting growth in children/individuals is actually a good thing in the first place. Within species, greater body size is I believe generally associated with shorter lifespans eg look at big and little dogs. Whether that also applies to humans is unclear but some studies suggest that it does.

Matthew – I completely agree. It would be helpful to me to see Dr. G name and identify the type of milk he is discussing each time since we now have so many different types of ‘milk’ on the market. Thanks for bringing this up.

No milk for decades. However for a treat I now and then buy unsugared, non-fat kefir, sweetening it at home with a quality stevia and vanilla extract.
Occasionally put it in the freezer to later spoon it up like ice cream. Yum.

This is off topic but am not sure where else to post. I was diagnosed with Gastroparesis this week and am looking for N.F. video on the subject but can not find one. I do have diabetes type 2 and MS and am trying my best to follow plant based diet as suggested in how not to die and here. thank you for all that you do here!

The thumbnail of the video is a bit exagerated: to drink a glass of milk doesn’t make our bones to explode instantly…

It is a slower process associated with an omnivorous diet, which interfers with calcium metabolism through the metabolization of sulphur-containing amino acids into sulphuric acid, and which is intrinsically poor in vitamine C.

In an omnivorous diet, rich in animal proteins, a significant part of the dietary calcium is thus excreted into the urine, and the vitamine C is mostly used as antioxydant, and less for the formation of bone collagen.

This is why a deficiency in vitamine C causes “scorbut” which is a bone disease due to the lack of collagen production, an extreme case of an omnivorous diet with too little vitamine C.

I felt like God blesses it because those stores are so packed and the sweet woman who fixed my phone was moved from tech to sales for the first time. They must have had thirty workers and I got the sweetest person again. The guy next to her in the sales department was an aggressive wheeler and dealer and I pondered walking out but before I could turn around I had the sweetheart walk me through everything and she pointed me toward money saving options where the wheeler and dealer kept trying to add on to the person he was dealing with. I had already researched it so I know for sure that she was selling for best value. She got another hug for that.

Thank you for learning from your clip that helped me a lot in working and, buying it is very useful not only for me. Those who rarely pay attention to buying and selling in these days will save some moneyhttp://wingsio0.com

Is there an iodised calcium & magnesium salt available in the market? Instead of using iodised salt this might be better. It would be a nice way to avoid added sodium from the iodised salt path. You would supplement iodine and calcium. You could avoid the calcium fortified soy-seaweed-b12 mimicry problem.

In one popular textbook; The Plant Paradox, it was stated that plants in the nightshade family (tomatoes, bell pepper etc), beans, peanuts and so on are not good because they contain lectin but I watched some videos on nutritionfacts that recommend some of the crops for consumption.

Dr. Gundry is awful. his marketing techniques are manipulative,and I am saddened to hear that dr. Greger has a on there but I’m grateful that you pointed out the truth of his aggressive manipulative marketing approach.

Hi, I have heard a number of time that the consumption of a particular food can lower or increase a risk of cancer, diabetes, etc.
Would you be able in simple words, or maybe make a video, how is this measured, particularly in long term studies? Where other variables can affect results? I have been ask a few time this and it hard to explain not having an academic background.
Many thanks